December 2014

I woke up this morning after a twenty-one hour three day trip in a haze. Thank God for coffee, this past trip really drained me! Mainly, our biggest problems on the trip were related to the super cold weather that we experienced this week. I went to work on Monday the 10th at 8:00am and it was 60º F. When I reported at 7:00am the next day it was 10º.  Last night, walking out to my snow covered car it was -1º. We're nearly a full month away from winter too. Brace yourselves! This isn't going to be an easy winter. And brace yourselves for the bidding nightmare of December. This is always the craziest month for bidding!

Working on Christmas isn't fun, but it is necessary for some. Us included. We still have a job to do. Now, our job isn't like all the others but there are some that know exactly how we feel. Keep it in perspective. There is a duty, a responsibility that has to be accomplished. I simply hope that if you're working a Christmas day that it is uneventful like these firefighters. Scenarios involving emergencies aren't fun and heaven forbid anyone experience that on a day that should be a resoundingly joyful occasion. Should you work on Christmas at least find solace in your fellow crewmembers.



I am sure all of you still want Christmas off, don't we all? I am no exception, so I'll explain what I do to try and hold Christmas off. I have explained this all before in my 2012 How to Bid for a Holiday post, but I suppose I could use a bit different semantics to drive home the point.


1. Determine how many trips fall on or over December 25. 

In Colorado Springs there are nine CRJ200 trips that fall on or over Dec 25. There are eight CRJ700 trips that fall on or over Dec 25 too. With the 700 (or any dual flight attendant aircraft) you'll have to multiply it by two to account for forward and aft positions, so sixteen plus nine equals 25. Twenty-five trips that fall on or over December 25 in Colorado Springs.

2. Determine  how many people junior to you will be "CN'ed" one of the twenty-five trips (if PBS actually works in reverse seniority for the distribution of those 25 trips). 

In Colorado Springs there are seventy flight attendants bidding. For December there are fourteen reserve lines. Seventy minus fourteen equals 56. Fifty-six is also the number of the Targeted Line Holders number in Colorado Springs. There could be some fluctuation in the number of actual reserves but, there are still 14 guaranteed reserve lines.

3. Apply the number of line holders within domicile seniority who will be awarded a trip on or over Christmas. 

We're trying to determine how far up the seniority list the CN demon will travel. Again, this is assuming that PBS will actually award in reverse seniority the trips that everyone is bidding to avoid. From the most junior projected line holder to the most junior "CN'ed" line holder is (56 - 25 = 31) thirty-one. So, in a perfect world from the 31st person in the seniority list to the first, they should be able to hold December 25th off. 

4. Apply the seniority of the must junior "non-CN'ed" to your relative domicile seniority.

I am number 29/70. So, in theory I should hold Christmas off by two more junior to me. Now, that is assuming two things. First, PBS works as advertised. Second, I don't screw up my bid and force it into the "eighth layer". That eighth layer is the CN/PN layer. If PBS cannot (or chooses not to) finish your award within your seventh layer it progresses to the final layer, the unpublished 8th layer (The PBS does-what-it-wants layer), to build a line of its choosing for you. 

5. Bid wisely.

I don't want to give PBS any excuse not to complete my line after my seventh layer. If I formulate a bidding strategy based on the information I just discovered, I need to make sure that I bid for every single pairing except those that fall on or over Christmas by my seventh layer in order to ensure I can hold it off. In other words, my last layer had better have only December 25 off and nothing else or I could open myself up for a disastrous CN.